The 2003 IgNobel Prizes

[Charlie in Dayton]

The 2003 IgNobel Prizes were awarded this evening (2 October 2003) in a ceremony at Harvard University. The Prizes were awarded in the following categories:

Engineering
Col. J.P. Stapp, Capt. Edward Murphy Jr, and George Nichols, for giving birth to Murphy's Law.

Physics
for the report "An Analysis of Forces Required To Drag Sheep Over Surfaces"

Medicine
for a report presenting evidence that London taxi drivers' brains are more highly developed than those of their fellow citizens

Psychology
for the report "Politicians' Uniquely Simple Personalities"

Chemistry
for the chemical investigation of a bronze statue (in a city in Japan) that fails to attract pigeons

Literature
for collecting the data in 80 academic reports on annoyances of daily life, including percentages of youth who wear ball caps with the bills pointing backwards, and the percentage of people exceeding the number of permitted items in express checkout lanes

Economics
for making it possible to rent the nation of Liechtenstein for birthday parties, Bar Mitzvahs, and other functions (www.rentastate.com)

Interdisciplinary Research
for the report "Chickens Prefer Beautiful Humans"

Peace Prize
to an individual in India for living an active life after being declared legally dead

Biology
for documenting the 1st scientific observation of homosexual necrophilia in the mallard duck

The names of the winners (and further details of their accomplishments) will eventually be posted at www.improbable.com.
They were omitted here because I watched the ceremony live, and Master of Ceremonies Marc Abrahams talks faster than I can write.

 

[shemp]

Could you please post a link to that duck study?

 

[Brian]

Strange. That one caught my eye too.

 

[EdipisReks]

is heterosexual necrophilia in ducks a well documented phenomena? my question is this; was the corpse so decayed that the duck couldn't tell if it were a male or female? if all the duck could tell was that the corpse was attractive in some way, i don't know if i would classify it as a purposeful homosexual act. not that there would be anything wrong with it if it were purposeful.